John Kerry’s Wife Nearly Had an Abortion 30 Years Ago
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 6, 2004
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — In an interview that will air tomorrow on ABC’s "20/20" newsmagazine program, Teresa Heinz Kerry says she nearly had an abortion 30 years ago until she had a miscarriage that prevented her from having to decide.
After having three children with her previous husband, deceased Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania, Heinz Kerry said she wanted a fourth child following the birth of her son Christopher in May 1973.
According to an Associated Press report, Heinz Kerry, wife of likely Democratic nominee John Kerry, said she had been taking cortisone after she "suffered a reaction to something." She did not know she was pregnant at the time.
After establishing her pregnancy, a doctor adviser her to have an abortion.
"I told my doctor I think I’m pregnant," Heinz Kerry said in the interview. "He said well then if you’re pregnant, you have to abort that baby … and I was very upset … I didn’t want to have an abortion."
"But they gave me 15 days because it was early and the night before I was due to go in, I miscarried it. So God was very kind," she explained.
Heinz Kerry told ABC News that she favors abortion because she would like to be able to make a decision to have an abortion if necessary, AP reported.
"I presume that most women will look at a choice like that as a terrible choice. But they should be given the chance to make it as I was," she told ABC News’ Barbara Walters.
In an April interview with Newsweek magazine, Heinz Kerry said she backs abortion and retracted a previous statement indicating she wasn’t fully 100% committed to the pro-abortion cause.
"I’m more old-fashioned than a lot of women … I don’t view abortion as just a nothing. It is stopping the process of life," Heinz Kerry told Newsweek contributing editor Melinda Henneberger.
When it comes to abortion, Heinz Kerry told Henneberger, "My belief — and I maybe am very wrong — is that women, generally speaking, do not want to have abortions."
"With the exception of people who are mindless — and there will always be mindless people of both sexes — most women wouldn’t want to," Heinz Kerry explained. "So starting on that premise, I’d say it’s our duty as a society to help women arrive at the best conclusion."
Five years ago, Heinz Kerry gave an interview in which she called herself "not 100 percent pro-choice."
Now, she accepts the political realities that come with being married to a presidential candidate who kowtows to the abortion lobby.
When Henneberger asked Senator Kerry whether his wife’s views on abortion are different from his own, he dodged the question.
"I do not know the answer to that. We’ve never — she’s never had to vote."
